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Research Articles - Retinitis Pigmentosa

A Foundation-funded research team
has developed a gene
therapy that restored vision in mice which had lost half of their
photoreceptors to autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa (arRP) caused by
mutations in the gene PDE6α. Results of the study, led by Stephen
Tsang, M.D., Ph.D., of Columbia University, were published in the journal
Human

The three-year, 90-participant clinical study will be conducted at three sites
— the University of Massachusetts Medical School, the University of Utah, and
the Retina Foundation of the Southwest — under the auspices of the National Eye
Evaluation Research Network. The Foundation Fighting Blindness established the
network to launch clinical trials of promising treatments and cures for retinal
degenerative diseases. Valproic acid is the first treatment to be evaluated in
the network.

Valproic acid appears to work by masking certain protein defects that can cause

While Second Sight
Medical Products is actively moving out its Argus II retinal prosthesis
systems to blind patients in the United States and Europe, the developer of the
first commercially available bionic retina also has its eye on the future. The
company is working on a number of upgrades and enhancements to restore vision
in more patients and improve the visual experience for existing users.

By genetically reprogramming rods to become like cones,
researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis may
have found an innovative way to treat vision-robbing retinal diseases like
retinitis pigmentosa (RP). While their research is at an early stage in mice,
it has revealed valuable clues about how to potentially save vision in people.
Results of the study were published in a recent online edition of Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences.

Thanks to success
in preclinical studies funded in part by the Foundation Fighting Blindness, the
Irish biopharmaceutical company Genable Technologies has received a €5 million
(equivalent to about $6.8 million) venture capital investment to advance its
gene therapy for autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (adRP) into a clinical
trial.

A Foundation-funded investigative team led by Ruifang Sui,
M.D., Ph.D., of Peking Union Medical College
Hospital,
has completed the first comprehensive genetic screening of a group of Chinese
people with autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa (arRP). Results of the

The Argus II® Retinal
Prosthesis System, which restores some useful vision to people blind from
advanced retinitis pigmentosa, will be offered later this year at 12 clinical
centers throughout the United States.

The Argus II retinal prosthesis, a device that can restore some
vision to people who are blind from advanced retinitis pigmentosa (RP), has
received U.S. market approval from theFood and
Drug Administration (FDA). Developed by Second Sight Medical Products, the device
will be available later this year in approximately 10 clinical centers across
the country. In 2011, the Argus II received marketing approval in Europe.
Also known as a “bionic retina,” it is currently the world’s only retinal

The Alpha IMS, a subretinal
implant developed by Retina Implant
AG of Reutlingen, Germany, has been granted European marketing
approval. The device received a CE
Mark, a regulatory designation for meeting European safety and reliability
standards. Also known as an artificial or bionic retina, the Alpha IMS has

An artificial retina developed by Retina Implant AG of
Reutlingen, Germany, has restored meaningful vision to most of the nine blind
people — eight with retinitis pigmentosa, one with cone-rod dystrophy —
enrolled in a clinical trial. Five of the participants recognized objects such
as door knobs, telephones and facial features. One person was able to read
store and restaurant signs, and another was able to observe the movements of a
wild goose.